CR IP TI ON BS SU 40 PAGES
NO: 15392
150 FILS
MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2012
www.kuwaittimes.net
RABIA ALTHANI 26, 1433 AH
Strikes leave passengers stranded, shelves empty Govt vows it won’t give in to unions’ demands
Max 21º Min 10º High Tide 10:17 & 21:13 Low Tide 03:16 & 15:24
By Ben Garcia and Agencies conspiracy theories
No milk, no salad and no flights but lots of sand
By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net
G
uys, I find the current situation in Kuwait hilarious. It is unprecedented that everything is closed and we are all trapped. At least before, when the price of tomatoes suddenly increased, I told myself “Never mind! I will eat my penne (macaroni) with white sauce. No need for tomatoes. Actually, penne tastes delicious in white sauce.” I told myself that I was going to eat green salad. Let overpriced tomatoes rot in co-ops. I was eating lettuce and cucumbers. Today, however, there is nothing. There are no cucumbers and no lettuce. Even if I want to eat my penne with bechamel sauce, there is no milk to prepare it. On top of that, as a Kuwaiti I would have travelled to Dubai to escape the crisis till tomatoes and milk hit the shelves again. As you all know, Kuwait Airways also decided to strike at the same time as the customs grounded its fleet. Now we are stranded. And not only that, but we are so lucky that we get sandstorms at the same time. Jazeera alone cannot cope with the rush to Dubai on the weekends. So, we are stuck and forced to watch what will happen with the clash between KAC and the government. Give it a week more - God forbid if this situation stretches to another week - I am not sure what other products will disappear from the market. Will the bakeries have enough flour to feed the nation? It would be a disaster if our khubs (bread) is lost. I can only imagine then an official spokesman telling us on TV: ‘There is no more bread. Eat biscuits.” Then he will remind you all of good old Queen Marie Antoinette of France when she asked her advisors why people were demonstrating on the streets of France. She was told that there was no bread so she retorted: “Let them eat cake.” On a serious note now. Let’s leave joking alone - I just wanted to refresh your day. What is happening in Kuwait is beyond a state of chaos. This time the government has to watch its steps very carefully and take urgent action. Why can’t the army step in. In all modern countries when there is a crisis, the army steps in until the problem is solved. An army is not only there to protect leaders and to be engaged in wars. It is trained to handle emergencies when they occur in the country. From the beginning, the government made a big mistake. Now it is too late to retreat. When it bended for the employees in the oil field, the government may not have expected that the rest of Kuwait was watching. Immediately after that the teachers, KAC and customs had their demands. The government tried to buy time and promised to solve the problem. Another mistake. The worst problem will be if the government surrenders to the demand of customs. That would mean entering a dangerous zone. We might start seeing strikes in every corner of Kuwait. We might see threats. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not against the customs and KAC. I have no idea what their demands are but there is a more decent way to do it without harming the nation and leaving families with babies without milk and leading Kuwait to a disaster. The losses in the market are tremendous and the government is not going to compensate the businessmen. It is the people of Kuwait who are the biggest losers in this game. By the production deadline of the newspaper yesterday, the government was adamant that the demands were not negotiable. Tomorrow is another day. Let’s wait and see. Have a good day without milk and salad!
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KUWAIT: Stranded passengers of Kuwait Airways are seen at Kuwait Airport yesterday. Kuwait Airways extended flight cancellations across its route network into a second day yesterday as it scrambled to cope with a strike by workers. — AP
KUWAIT: Kuwait Airways canceled flights for a second day in a row yesterday as it scrambled to cope with a strike by workers. The action by Kuwait Airways employees follows a work stoppage by customs officials that began last week and is blocking truckloads of goods from entering the country. Workers are demanding higher pay and other benefits. The government announced a 25 percent rise in pay for state workers last week but several unions have said the measures did not go far enough. Kuwait Airways grounded its flights starting Saturday evening and extending into yesterday, according to airline spokesman Adel Boresly. They affect incoming and outgoing flights on nearly two dozen routes including to regional hubs Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Doha, Qatar, as well as Western destinations such as New York and Frankfurt. It is unclear when flights will resume. “We are evaluating the situation (until) the strike is off,” Boresly said. Kuwait Airways operates a fleet of 17 jetliners and focuses mainly on flying to Middle Eastern, European and Asian destinations. It has struggled financially for years, in contrast to the turbocharged growth of regional rivals such as Dubai’s Emirates. Meanwhile, store shelves at some supermarkets are running empty as striking customs workers, who began walking off the job last Tuesday, refuse to allow hundreds of trucks to cross the border. That is prompting merchants to hike prices, with the cost of some Continued on Page 13
Blast hits Aleppo; clashes and protests across Syria BEIRUT: A car bomb ripped through a residential area of Syria’s second city Aleppo yesterday, a day after twin blasts killed 27 in the capital Damascus. State news agency SANA said the attack by “terrorists” had killed two people and wounded 30 others. Opposition activists said three died in the explosion, close to a Political Security office and a church. The semi-official news channel AlIkhbariya said security forces had been tipped off about the bomb and had been moving residents out of the area when it went off. It said the car had been filled with 200 kilograms of explosives. Pictures on the SANA website showed building fronts blasted open and aid workers standing near piles of shattered masonry and bomb craters. Syria T V showed at least one street corner splattered in blood. Local activist Mohammed Halabi said at least 15 ambulances and security cars rushed to the area after the blast. “The blast was
extremely loud and even shook nearby areas,” Halabi said, speaking by telephone from Aleppo. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, and an activist in Aleppo from the opposition’s local Revolutionary Council said the government was behind the explosion. “They want to make our uprising seem like a terrorist operation to the rest of the world, but it is not,” said the activist called Marwan, who spoke to Reuters by telephone. Opposition groups reported heavy raids by security forces and fighting with rebels in northern and southern Syrian provinces as well as suburbs of Damascus. A sniper shot dead a man in southern Deraa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and security forces killed three people during raids in a village in northern Idlib, including a 14-year-old boy. In the capital, as crowds gathered for memorials to Continued on Page 13
ISTANBUL: A Turkish protestor holds a banner during a demonstration against the government of Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad at Beyazit Square yesterday. — AFP
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